Stages
by The Layman
Summary: Everyone deals with loss in their own way, some worse than others... Warning: Character death. No pairings, but hints of Arkos. (Jaune/Pyrrha.) Dedicated to Monty Oum, 1981-2015.
1. Epicenter

_Hey there y'all, Layman here! _

_So I did NoNaWriMo again this year, like usual; didn't make 50,000, but I did manage to actually finish the story I started. (Well, I actually started one story and then started a different one...shut up!) Point being that over the course of the next year or so, y'all are getting a new RWBY fic! Yay! _

_So, as a little bit of a Christmas surprise, I'm posting the first chapter in time for Christmas day! (And Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and Festivus, and whatever else you happen to celebrate this time of year.) Hope youz guys like and will be totally hooked by the end._

_Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Roster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum. The "Fenris" Grimm isn't a canonical monster, and shouldn't be confused the the Grimm of the same name on the RWBY Fanon Wiki. (That is a thing that exists.) For the purposes if the fic, it's just a Grimm the size of your average Gray Wolf with black fur and red eyes (Save for one exception that you'll read about shortly)._

_So, without further adieu, I present to you the first chapter of "Stages"._

**_Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die._**

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Seriously," Weiss said as she speared another Fenris that leaped at her. Team RWBY had taken a mission to eradicate a nest of Grimm that had somehow sprung up near the outskirts of Vale, in return for extra credit for their third year. They'd gotten separated during the melee, though she and Yang had managed to locate each other again, "where the hell do these things keep coming from?"

"Beats me!" the blond brawler said, happily punching Grimm after Grimm, firing off rounds from Ember Celica occasionally, "Alls I know is that I'm getting the workout of a lifetime!"

"Well _bully_ for you!" Weiss clicked Myrtenaster to the light blue Dust, causing a wave of ice to engulf a Fenris in mid leap. "Any sign of Ruby or Blake yet?"

"Nothing yet!" Yang was currently punching a Fenris into the air repeatedly, her gauntlets clanging with every hit. "Trust me, you'll know when they're nearby."

Another Fenris charged at her, forcing Weiss back into the fight. She clicked to the violet Dust, slashing at the beast. It landed in two halves, both dissolving into the ground a moment later.

_We're not making any progress this way,_ the heiress thought, _Hmm, I wonder…_

"We need to find out where all these Fenris' are coming from and plug it up somehow," she reasoned, "I for one would like this to end as soon as possible."

"So what you're saying is," Yang said with a cheeky grin, punting a Fenris into a tree, "that we need to destroy the spawn point to keep enemies from spawning?" She wriggled her eyebrows coyly.

Weiss fought to keep her eye from twitching.

Just then Blake crashed through the trees, dragging a Grimm behind her with Gambol Shroud. (The katana was stuck in one of the Fenris's legs.) She then ground to a stop, letting the Grimm fly past her, before giving Gambol's ribbon a sharp tug. This caused the sword to slice the leg apart, as well as Gambol's built in pistol to fire at the creature's head. Blake then caught the sword and resheathed it just as the remains of the Grimm fell to the ground.

"Told ya," Yang stated matter-of-factly.

"Have either of you seen Ruby?" the Faunus girl asked, turning to face her other teammates, "We got separated when a huge swarm of Fenris' attacked us; I just finished off the last one that followed me."

"We haven't seen her either," Yang said, firing Ember Celica behind her without looking. A moment later the offending Grimm dissolved, "We were too busy getting hounded by these things."

She paused to let her terrible pun sink in.

"_Ah?_" she prompted, "Geddit, '_hounded'_?"

She was met with two blank stares and one noticeable [very] eye twitch.

"One of these days, guys," she sighed, shaking her head sorrowfully, "one of these days…."

"_GUYS!"_ Ruby's high pitched voice called from further in the forest, "_Someone stop this crazy thing!"_

"That dunce…." Weiss let out a long suffering sigh as she and the other older members of Team RWBY raced off to help their leader. They found her a moment later (in one of the many ruined structures that dotted the landscape of Vale) on top of a _massive_ Fenris, hanging onto its neck for dear life.

"Guys, I think I need a little help!" Ruby yelled from on top the Über-Fenris, the beast itself thrashing about as best it could to try and dislodge its cling on passenger.

"I don't think I want to know how she got like that," Weiss remarked glibly.

"Who cares, so long as we can hit it!" Yang dashed up the enormous Grimm, accompanying each blow she landed on it with a word, "_Stop! Trying! To! Hurt! My! Sister! You! Stupid! Optional! Raid! Boss!_"

"We might as well," said Blake before dashing after her partner. Weiss shook her head again, wondering how her own partner could still be so clumsy even after all this time. (Then again, they all still retained some of the quirks they had when they'd first met.) She formed a series of glyphs that led to the giant monster, switching to the yellow Dust in Myrtenaster before following her fellow Huntresses.

"When will you ever learn?" Weiss scolded as she landed on the Fenris's head next to Ruby. She grabbed the petite girl and leaped back to the ground just as Yang and Blake attacked that very spot.

"I'm sorry," the young leader apologized, bopping her forefingers together, "I lost Crescent Rose back in the ruins, and then one thing kinda lead to another..."

"...Never mind that, just be glad you're still in one piece." Seeing her leader's grin, she nodded her head towards the ruins, "Where'd you lose your scythe?"

"It got lodged in the tower up there," she said, pointing at the singular stone tower that dominated the area. Sure enough, Weiss could see Ruby's iconic combination over-sized scythe/sniper rifle stuck near the top of the tower, the moonlight glinting off the blade, "...cause, you know, things happened."

Before they could attempt a rescue of Ruby's "baby" they heard Yang cry out "Since when the hell could this thing do _that_!" Both girls looked over at the blond brawler and saw her and Blake now fighting a horde of the normal sized Fenris', in addition to dodging the much larger one.

"Oh yeah, and the Alpha Fenris can spawn normal ones," the crimsonette remembered, snapping her fingers, "forgot to mention that."

It took all of Weiss's willpower not to give herself the mother of all headsmacks.

Instead she resigned to flicking Ruby in the forehead.

_"Ow!"_

"Just go get Crescent Rose," the heiress sighed, her way of saying the matter was dropped, no love lost. She created a path of glyphs to the tower, Ruby zipping off to retrieve her prized possession.

Meanwhile, Yang and Blake were still trying to deal with the two pronged attack against their persons.

"Normally I'm all for having more things to hit," Yang said, blasting away at any Fenris that came too close, "but this is starting to border on ridiculous; it's like our lives are a videogame or something!"

"Unfortunately, we can't just restart the mission of we mess up!" the Faunus retorted without missing a beat, managing block the giant Wolf's teeth from biting her in half with Gambol Shroud's shroud [sheath]. She leaped back before it could strike again, receiving a mouthful of dirt for its troubles. "There's gotta be _something_ we can do to kill it!"

"Nothing I can think of," Yang said as she dodged out of the way of a pair of Fenris that leaped at her at the same time, "not unless Ruby got Crescent Rose back."

_"Yang! I got Crescent Rose back!"_ Ruby shouted as she and Weiss raced back to the fight.

"I have an idea, my good Faunus!" the gauntlet wearing girl said cheerfully, waving the other girls over so she could quickly outline her plan. "Blake, you're gonna agro old 'big bad' there, keep his attention off the rest of us."

"On it," she said, creating a shadow clone to help aid her in the distraction.

"Weiss, you're on support duty; throw whatever debuffs you can on that thing, and keep one of your air steps over its neck at all times."

"Right," she said, though it took her a second to interpret Yang videogame lingo.

"And Rubes?"

"Yes?" she chipped eagerly.

"Take my hand." Yang held her hand out for Ruby to take (blind firing at another Fenris), winking conspiratorially.

The young prodigy easily deduced her sister's plan and took hold of the offered hand, stating "Let's do this!".

Yang then flung Ruby with all her might, straight at the glyph Weiss made. At some point Weiss had managed to freeze the massive Grimm's paws in ice, effectively trapping it in place. Ruby fired Crescent Rose as she propelled herself off the glyph, morphing the weapon back into scythe as she did. She put herself into a controlled spin and landed gracefully a second later, the Alpha Fenris's head crashing to the ground after her.

The rest of its body then fell over, already starting to dissolve into the ground.

"Woohoo!" Yang cheered, finishing off a few Grimm that has spawned at the last second, "The was perfect!"

"I must admit," Weiss said, storing Myrtenaster in her belt, "I'm pleasantly surprised your plan worked."

"Go team," Blake cheered quietly.

"How'd you know that would work?" Ruby asked.

"Because normal sized Fenris have a blind spot right in the back of their heads," she explained, "so I figured the bigger the Grimm, the bigger the blind spot. That, and over 600 hours of experience in Remnant: Online."

"Most impressive," Blake nodded approvingly.

"I say this calls for a round of milk and cookies when we get back to Beacon," the young leader said, "my treat!"

"Again?" whined Weiss.

"We've kinda been having that a lot," Yang said, more diplomatically, "and no offense, but I'm starting to put on weight that _isn't_ muscle mass."

"I think we'd all appreciate a little variety in our traditional Victory Feast," Blake added.

After that a short round of good natured ribbing ensued, and soon a consensus was reached as to what each of the girls wanted to eat.

"So I'm having cookies," Ruby said, "also known as _the best food in all the world!_ Weiss is having Ice Cream, vanilla flavored, Yang wants the super spicy tortilla chips and energy drinks, and Blake will-"

She never managed to say what Blake wanted. While the girls wetter baking in the glow of their victory, they'd completely forgotten about the head of the Grimm they'd just slain. Unlike the body, it had been dissolving at a slower rate. Before it dissolved completely, one last Fenris spawned from it, only this one was different; this one was glowing with a red Aura, and it had enough intelligence to remember who had "killed" it.

It was the one in red who carried the Goliath tusk.

It crept up behind the red girl, and when the time was right it pounced on her, tearing her neck open with its jaws.

Yang was the first one to react when it happened.

_"I WILL FUCKING END YOU!"_ she screamed, flames erupting from her body as her Semblance flared up. The Grimm knew this was trouble, and with his work done he sprinted into the forest, away from the scary one on fire. She rushed after it, screaming unintelligibly.

Weiss just stood petrified, unable to give a reaction one way or the other. Her brain couldn't process what may just happened; a leftover Fenris _did not_ just sneak up on Ruby Rose and tear her throat out, it was utterly _impossible._ There was also no way it could have happened without at least _one_ of them noticing it before or attacked. No chance whatsoever.

_There was just no way this happened,_ went Weiss's mind in an effort to deny what was blindingly obvious. _There was no way..._

_There was no way..._

_No way..._

_No way..._

_No..._

_No, this was real. _

_This was happening. _

_This happened. _

"Weiss!"

Blake's shout jolted Weiss back into reality, but only just barely.

"Don't just stand there, Weiss, do something!" The Faunus girl was kneeling next their leader, pressing her hands against Ruby's neck.

"I...I don't-" Weiss stammered, feeling utterly helpless for the first time in her life.

"Give me your jacket!" Blake snapped, sticking her hand out expectantly.

"Yeah, OK..." Weiss moved on autopilot, removing her cost and handing it to Blake in a mechanical fashion. Blake pressed the garment against the wound, though the chances of it actually doing any good at this point were almost nonexistent.

_"W-Weiss...!" _Ruby croaked weakly, coughing up blood as she did. _"I hafta..."_

"Don't speak," Blake cautioned, "wait until we get you to a-"

"I'm right here," Weiss said, kneeling to her fallen leader's level. Ruby's plea had finally brought her back to her full senses, and whatever she felt was so important to say, Weiss would hear her out; she owed her that much at least after living with her for three years, "what is it?"

"I wanted- *cough cough!* ...wanted you to know..." She tried to speak, only to end up coughing more blood. (Some blood splashed of the heiress's face, starkly vivid against her naturally pale skin.)

"Blake's right, you need to save your strength. We'll get you to a hospital, and you'll get proper treatment by the best doctors money can buy!"

"I'm glad we became friends," the young leader strained, determined to say her piece, "Really. It was...the best thing about coming to Beacon..." She smiled, the genuine sincerity managing to shine through the blood on her mouth.

And in the moment, the indomitable light in Ruby Rose's faded away into nothingness.

"No," Blake sobbed, finally unable to hold her tears back. She abandoned the coat, moving to do compressions, "No no no no no!"

"Blake," Weiss tried to get the cat girl's attention, but she was too wrapped up in her [futile] efforts. "_Blake,_" she tried again, her voice hard and emotionless.

This produced better results; Blake looked up, the tears in her eyes causing her makeup to run.

"It's useless," she continued, unsure whether she meant herself, Blake, the situation, or all three at once, "Ruby's dead."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Well, that happened. _

_...see ya in 2015!_


	2. First Aftermath

_Here's chapter two. _

_...that is all._

_(As far as I know, "Sloth Run" isn't an actual game. If it were, I'd imagine it to be something akin to Cloudberry Kingdom.)_

**_Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die._**

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

When the rescue ship arrived Yang still hadn't come back from chasing the Grimm. Weiss and Blake hadn't spoken a word to each other since they called Gylnda, not that there was really anything to say after everything that happened; Blake occupied her time by gathering flowers into a bouquet to put in Ruby's hands, to properly send the young girl off. Weiss just sat on a rock, staring out at nothing. She was still trying to wrap her head around everything that happened.

The ride back was equally uneventful. Ruby's body had been placed in a body bag and was strapped into a gurney, and the paramedics weren't very talkative outside of procedure. Neither of the girls had much experience with dead bodies, so the whole ride back to Beacon passed in the most awkward of silences.

They arrived back at the school they were met by Ozpin, who looked more sorrowful and melancholy than either girl ever remembered seeing the Headmaster.

"I can't even begin to say how sorry I am at this," he said, "It pains me to know that I'm indirectly responsible for her death." He looked at them both with sad eyes, "In light of what's happened, I'll understand completely if either of you need some time to yourselves to sort things out."

"Thank you, sir," Blake said, bowing respectfully.

"It's most considerate of you, sir," Weiss said, "but I'd rather continue with my studies, if that's alright with you."

"You're sure about this?" he asked, "I've lost good friends in my time, so I know people can't get over something like this so easily."

"I'll be fine," Weiss insisted, putting on her best Noble Pride.

"Very well, Miss Schnee, if you say so." Stating that he had funeral preparations to start taking care of he dismissed the girls, saying they could return to their dorm until later that night when he would make the announcement to the whole school.

Weiss headed for the library instead of the dorms, wanting to find a quiet place to catch up on her course work until the assembly. She drew quite a few stares from the other students on her way, which is to say the very noticeable bloodstain on her coat drew stares. A few of the more timid students shrunk out of her way as she passed, no doubt getting the wrong idea about them until later tonight.

When she arrived at the library she ran into Velvet Scarletina, the timid Faunus girl having just checked out some books herself.

"Um, Weiss?" she started hesitantly, "You've, um...you've got a little-"

"Yes, I'm well aware I've 'got a little'," Weiss snapped, more on reflex than with any real conviction, "thank you for that _absolutely necessary _observation, Scarletina." Without paying her a second look the heiress disappeared into the jungle of bookshelves, leaving the poor girl standing by the checkout desk in befuddled shock.

Despite so quickly brushing her off, Weiss had to begrudgingly admit that Velvet wasn't wrong when she stated the obvious. She must look like she just came from the scene of her latest murder victim or something equally as horrid.

_(Like having your best friend practically die right in your arms-_

_Shut up!) _

A quick course correction, and after removing her coat (the still wet blood was starting to feel uncomfortable), she headed for the nearest lavatory to freshen herself up a bit.

The small room was unoccupied when she got there, thankfully granting her complete privacy for the ritual. After hanging her coat on the door so she'd have proper use of both arms she turned to the mirror and stared at her reflection.

The blood stood vividly against her alabaster skin. It was mostly gathered around the corner of her lips, making her look like she had a rather lopsided mouth. _Most_ unsightly. She turned on the faucet, splashing water on some tissues and using that to gently wipe the blood away.

Blood had practically been spilling from Ruby's mouth after-

_No! Don't think about that._ She shook the errant, unwanted thoughts from her mind and refocused on taking stock of her appearance.

She noticed her coat in the mirror's reflection, finally seeing the large stain on the back of it. Facing her back the mirror she saw that the blood had soaked through her shirt as well, another article of clothing ruined.

_I'm_ definitely _going to need a shower,_ she thought, resolving to do so before studying. Deciding there was little else she could do until she acquired a change of clothes, Weiss put her coat back on and went to find the books she needed to study.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Yang still hasn't shown up by the time Ozpin called everyone to the cafeteria for the assembly.

"I hope she's not out doing something stupid," Blake said as she and Weiss stood with Team JNPR, Sun Wukong, and Neptune, waiting for Ozpin to begin speaking. By default she was the foremost authority on Yang Xiao-Long's behavior, having lived with her their entire time at Beacon.

"She's a big girl," Sun remarked, twirling his monkey tail playfully, "I'm sure she can handle whatever stupid thing she gets herself into."

The others either just nodded or have an empty "Yeah" or "Uh huh" in response. While telling JNPR was unavoidable because of how close they'd always been with Team RWBY, Team SSSN ran with a different circle most of the time, so they were often out of the loop with their mutual friends. The eponymous team leader had immediately noticed Ruby's absence and had tried asking where she and Yang were, but dropped it when no one would give him an answer. (Ren had to also slap his hand over Nora's mouth before she could ask similar questions.) Instead, he occupied himself with trying to guess what the assembly had been called for. (Which, unbeknownst to him, made the situation even more awkward.)

After taking the microphone to get everyone's attention, Ozpin began his speech.

"It is with a heavy that I have to inform you all of the death of one of our students while on a Hunting mission earlier today."

This had been the last thing the student body has been expecting to hear, and the statement was meet with many a gasp from around the hall.

"Wow," Sun said blankly, "that is literally the last thing I was expecting."

"Hope you've always wanted to know what foot tastes like," Neptune nudged the monkey Faunus.

_"That student was the young Miss Ruby Rose."_

"I don't think I have a choice on the matter...," Sun said, surprised by how devastated he was by this revelation.

"I'll spare you all the details of how it happened," the headmaster continued, "sufficed to say no one feels worse about this than I; I was the one who invited Ruby to come here because I believed she had the makings of a great Huntress, and I have no doubt she would have been one of the best were she still here to graduate." He paused, hearing scattered sobs from all over the room. "The life of a Hunter is one filled with danger, and not everyone comes out of it alive. For those that don't, the best thing we can do is to keep their memories close, no matter what happens. On that note, there will be a private funeral for Ruby's family and close friends in three days, with a memorial service afterwards that will be opened to the public. If any of you wish to talk with someone about this, there will be Consolers available during normal school hours.

"Directions to all available offices will be sent to your Scrolls within the hour. That is all."

As Ozpin walked off the stage platform the room erupted in conversation, many of the students searching out the others in their cliques or teams to make sure no one was left out.

Sun was the first of his group to break the silence, "_Man_ this is some real heavy shit to take in; I totally get why you guys didn't wanna talk about it."

"I just can't believe that Ruby's...," Jaune started to say, before devolving into sputters. Pyrrha put a confirming arm around the paladin's shoulder. This seemed to help him find his words, "She was the first friend I made here, even said my stupid hand-me-down sword was cool." He sighed, leaning into his girlfriend, "It just sucks that now I'm never gonna see her again."

"I know," Pyrrha said, taking the bond boy into a hug and nuzzling his head.

"Would it be bad taste to tell them to get a room right now?" Sun asked, only to receive a slap upside the head from his own battle partner in response. "_Ow_, point taken."

"Hey Ren," Nora blurted, "you haven't said anything in a long time- well, longer than usual. What's the matter, sloth got your tongue?"

"I just...can't think of anything appropriate to say," Ren said simply.

"Well that's no fun," the young Valkyrie pouted, "you're all being a bunch of gloomy Gus's! You should all try bring happier, like me!" She put on a huge, cheesy grin and made imaginary dimples with her fingers.

"Our friend just died," Blake reminded her bluntly, though the hyper girl gave no indication of having heard her.

"I know! We should go up to JNPR's room! We've got snacks, drinks, snacks, board games, snacks, Jayne's action figures, snacks, and snacks! Also, I just got the new Sloth Runner DLC, Attack of the Anti-Sloth!; 50 new levels just waiting to be beaten in hair pulling, teeth grinding, four player madness! What do you say?"

"I think it actually sounds rather nice," Ren said before anyone could shoot down Nora's idea, "I doubt Ruby would want us to mope around on her account."

"I agree, Jaune and I are in too," Pyrrha said, speaking for her boyfriend as well; the poor thing looked like he could use some major cheering up.

"Will there be Cheese Balls?" Sun asked Nora, his trail twitching in anticipation.

"Uh, _doi!_"

"Then Neptune and I are in as well!"

"Dude, not cool!" Neither said.

"What, so you _don't_ want to come?"

"Of course I do, but maybe I'd like to tell them myself?"

"OK dude, I totally got you!" He turned back to the group, "Neptune says he's in." _Smack!_ "Ow!"

"If everyone else is in, then so am I," Blake said, "Ren does make a good point, after all." She looked over at Weiss, who had been strangely quiet this whole time, "Weiss, are you coming to JNPR's dorm with us?"

Weiss had tuned most of the assembly out; it has just been Ozpin saying what she already witnessed first hand. For the most part she'd absently played with Myrtenaster's hilt, her brain craving _something_ to pay attention to that wasn't the depressing speech.

Why were they even doing this, anyway? People died all the time, it wasn't anything _that_ special. ...OK, maybe that was a little insensitive, but everyone was acting like Vacuo had declared war or something; if Weiss died, she wouldn't expect everyone to make a big deal out of-

"Weiss, are you OK?"

"Fine!" she snapped, before checking herself. "Sorry, I was...lost in thought. What is it?"

"Are you coming up to JNPR's dorm with the rest of us?" Blake asked again.

"No, I've still got studying to catch up on," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "Besides," she added quickly, "someone needs to keep an eye out in case Yang gets back."

"If you say so," Blake relented, sounding disappointed, "I don't plan on staying there too late, I should be back before midnight."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Weiss was rethinking her decision not to join the others in JNPR's room; she'd been sitting on her bunk (though, technically, the whole bed was hers now) for hours and she'd barely read through three page of her text book. For some reason she was unable to focus for more than ten seconds before her mind began going to places she didn't want it to go. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why that was. It wasn't like she was wrought with grief, she felt perfectly fine!

_In fact, I'm handling this whole tragedy rather maturely, _she thought to herself. _I may not be a frail, crying waif, but at least I'm not in complete denial like Nora seems to be. And I'm not letting my __emotions rage out of control like Yang is, another point in my favor!_

As if summoning her by mere thought, Yang chose that moment to trudge through the door, shuffling over to her's and Blake's ramshackle bunk bed and unceremoniously flopped face first on the bottom bunk.

"_Hey Weiss!_" she said, her voice muffled by both the bedding and her own voluminous hair. "_I killed the Fenris, sorry it took so long. By the way,_" she weakly held up her finger, "_ignore what you see on the news about a street gang called the Black Dragons and how they mysteriously ended up in the authority's custody, that had _absolutely nothing _to do with me._" With that, her arm dropped back to the bed, and contented snores began emanating from underneath her golden locks.

_Well, at least she's got the rage out of her system._

As the blond brawler snored away, Weiss pulled out her Scroll and typed a message to Blake; "Yangs back, is sleeping. Grimm dead." That done, she decided to put aside schoolwork and just try something purely recreational to help her relax. She opened her Scroll to its wide mode and keyed in the television application, hoping to find something that piqued her interest in the many channels Vale offered.

"Boring," she muttered as she cycled through channels, "boring, don't care, boring, too juvenile, already seen it, boring, boring, boring…" She was about to on finding something entertaining when she came across a news station that appeared to be finishing up its story.

_#...police remain baffled as to exactly _how _the street gang ended up on their doorstep,# _the newscaster, a scruffy looking man with a large mustache, said, _#as the only clues to this vigilante were a strand of blond hair and a winking smiley face taped to one of the Black Dragon members.# _

_So that's what she meant,_ Weiss realized, wryly.

_#Whoever this mysterious person is, people can rest easy knowing they helped make Vale a little safer.#_

_#Thanks, Geoffrey.#_ The image cut to a husky man with a prominent red beard, _#On a more tragic note, Beacon Academy has just suffered the loss of one its students today. Known for her involvement in helping resolve the crisis with the New White Fang two years ago, Ruby Rose, 18, was apparently killed by a Grimm while on a Hunt with her team. The loss hits the prestigious Huntsmen school particularly hard, as this is the first recorded case of a student dying while still enrolled. Headmaster Prof. Ozpin declined to comment when asked about it earlier, stating that he was busy with the young girl's funeral arrangements. There will be a memorial service after the funeral, which will be open to the public. The funeral itself will be a private affair, and will be held at the school in three days time. We'll have more details about the tragedy as they become available._

_"We now go over to Caleb with the weather-#_

Weiss shut the app off and flopped back against her pillow, now more depressed and angry than before, the exact opposite result she'd been trying for.

_Seriously? The media knows about this now?_ Bring the daughter of the largest industrialist in the world, she'd had plenty of experience dealing with the both paparazzi and legitimate news organizations over the years. She knew how vicious they were capable of being, intentionally or not, and the thought of them dragging her late partner's name through the mud set her blood boiling. _Whatever; it's not like anyone I know watches those kinds of news shows..._

Checking the time, she saw that is was just past eleven, much later than she realized. She set the Scroll down on her meager nightstand and got up, heading over to her wardrobe to retrieve one of her nightgowns. She changed quickly and hopped back under the covers, hoping a good night's would solve her problems.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_Those newscasters seemed strangely familiar. I wonder why?..._

_Anywho, this is gonna be it for a little while, as I'm also trying to finish up my Bleach Frozen fic, Winter Queen, as well as start up a new project in the Oh! My Goddess fandom. There's also a few supplemental bits of Stages that still need to get written, but most if those aren't going to be posted until the main story is finished. _

_In the mean time, go check out Winter Queen, and be on the lookout for my OMG fic. _


	3. Aftershock 1

_And now, we're going to see what happens when someone tries to tease an angry beast._

**__Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die.__**

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_"Weiss, wake up already!" _

The heiress jolted awake, her heart racing like a freight train at returning to consciousness so suddenly. Blake and Yang were already up and in their uniforms, zipping to and fro in an effort to complete their morning rituals as quickly as possible.

"There you are!" Yang exclaimed, "What's up with you? You were sleeping like the dead!" The blond girl winced, catching her blunder, "Sorry, bad taste. But seriously though, uniform and bare essentials, STAT!"

"We took the liberty of getting yours out already," Blake said, tossing the offending garments at Weiss (and managing to hit her in the face).

"What time is it?" she asked, peeling her blazer of her face and groping for her Scroll. "It's still early," she yawned, glancing at the display, "what the heck's got you two so- 8:45!" Now completely sober and alert, Weiss leaped out of bed and hurriedly began putting her uniform on. "Why didn't either of you wake me up sooner!?"

"We got only up, like, five minutes ago ourselves!" Yang explained, a toothbrush having it off her mouth.

"We tried to wake you up," Blake apologized, "but like Yang said you were unresponsive."

"Well," Weiss wondered as she finished buttoning up her blazer, "why didn't Ruby wake us up like she always-"

She froze suddenly, feeling like she'd just been slapped (though in actuality she hadn't).

_Damn it,_ she sighed, _Ruby always used to wake us up every morning; this is going to take some getting used to..._

"Weiss," Yang suddenly appeared directly in her face, "not to intrude on your brooding, but you're going to be late if you don't hurry."

"Right," she said, shaking the thoughts in her head clear; she'd have plenty of time to dwell on them later. Slipping on her shoes, Weiss headed into the dorm's half bath and gargled some of Yang's Listerine (it burned her mouth a little, but she'd rather suffer a minute of discomfort than have bad breath the rest of the day).

When they were all sufficiently prepared the girls rushed out of the dorm and headed for the lecture building to make their first class of the day.

"What's our first class?" Yang asked as the zoomed past the other students.

"'Understanding the Grimm' with Prof. Port," Blake read from their schedule. (It was a miracle that she'd remembered to grab it before they left.)

"Perfect!" Yang cheered, "We get there, pretend to listen to one of 'Portly's boring ass stories, and hope we don't get picked for a surprise object lesson!"

They made it to the class in time and found seats next to each other. Prof. Port, surprisingly enough, didn't launch into one of the many anecdotes about his past as a Huntsman. (He also didn't try to flirt [badly] with any of the girls, which meant he was _really_ serious today.) The class went by without incident, and soon everyone was on their way to their class for the next period.

Along the way, the remainder of Team RWBY received many well wishes and condolences from the other students that they passed, even from students who considered themselves RWBY's rivals or enemies. (Russel, Sky, and Dove of CRDL gave the girls a bouquet of roses to show their sympathy, some of them more reluctant than others.)

While Weiss appreciated the gestures at first, she soon began to lose patience when every other person asked "how she was doing with Ruby gone" and "if she'd ever recover from the terrible ordeal". Fortunately for the students, Weiss had been raised her whole life to bury her emotions in the face of tragedy; "Keeping a stiff upper lip", as her father often said. She thanked them for their concern, and told them "I'll manage. After all, I got along well enough before coming to Beacon.". By lunch time though, she'd gotten annoyed with the gesture to the point where she didn't bother answering the question, actively ignoring people in some cases.

"So, Weiss...," Yang began as the trio ate lunch together, trying to approach the situation delicately, "you've been kinda quiet for a long time. Is everything OK?"

"'Everything', as you say, is fine," she answered curtly, "so if you don't mind, I'd like to finish my lunch in peace." She took a bite of her food, chewing it humorlessly.

"Are you sure?" Blake asked, genuinely concerned for the heiress. She'd been getting more and more withdrawn since yesterday, and the Faunus feared what would happen if she didn't properly deal with all her pent up emotions. She'd seen it happen before in the White Fang, and she feared what Weiss would do if she were pushed the wrong way in her state. "If you need to talk with someone about what happened, Yang and I are willing to listen. Or you could see one of school counselors if you want privacy."

"Do I look like I need professional help, Belladonna?" Weiss retorted, clenching her free hand into a fist, "I'm not some weak willed little girl who needs their Mommy to hug them and tell them everything will be fine, so why don't you just mind your own business, OK?"

"Whoa, hold the phone there, girl!" Yang was completely blown away by Weiss's outburst. In all the time she'd known the Schnee heiress she'd never once see her explode like this, not even when Blake came out as a Faunus. "Look, whatever's crawling up your butt right now, don't take it out on us; we're your friends, we just want to help!"

By now the commotion had drawn the attention of other students in the cafeteria, who watched with morbid curiosity.

"If you really want to help, please mind your own business," Weiss said, barely holding back her rage, "Now I'm going to finish my food and head down to Miss Goodwitch's class, is that alright with you?"

Before Yang (or Blake) could respond, Nora Valkyrie skipped up to their table, plopping herself down in front of Weiss.

"Hey guys! What's shakin'?"

"Weiss is being moody," Yang explained, not beating around the bush, "it's probably best if you don't get within biting distance."

"Did you need something?" Blake asked, hoping to speed Nora along and spare the poor girl Weiss's rage.

"Oh I'm here as a card carrying member of the Fun Patrol!" she said, pumping her fist into the air, "And someone over here doesn't look like they're having fun!"

"Do you want something, Nora?" Weiss gritted her teeth, sounding like she actually _would_ bite the young hammer wielder, given the opportunity.

"Just for you to turn that frown upside down, to stop being such a sour puss and start having fun again!" She started bouncing eagerly in her seat, "Ooh! Ooh! I know just the thing; let's start another food fight, wouldn't that be fun? And we could even make a game out of it; whoever gets the most hits without using the Mystery Meat wins, and the losers have to buy the winner soda for the rest of the day! Well, whadaya say?"

"So this is all a game to you, is it?" Weiss said in a low dangerous voice. "You think everything's just one big game?"

"Well, not everything," the red haired girl shrugged, completely missing this nearly palpable rage spilling off the Heiress, "but this food fight is! Come on, Ruby would be on board with it!"

Something inside of Weiss snapped.

"What the hell is your problem, Valkyrie?!" Weiss shot to her feet, slamming her hands on the table, her lunch forgotten, "How in all of Remnant can you just act like nothing happened?! Ruby just died, and all you can think about is some idiotic, asinine food fight; how can you _possibly_ be this dense?!"

"R-ruby's not dead," Nora stammered, completely taken aback by Weiss's sudden intensity, so much so that she was unable to maintain her eternally cheerful demeanor, "she's just, like, really sick and in a hospital. Yeah...she'll be back any day now…."

Unable to hold herself back any longer, Weiss lunged forward and grabbed Nora by her collar and held her mere inches from her face, "What kind of stupid, idiotic fantasy world do you live in, huh? Your good friend just died and you don't even have the good grace to feel sad about it, let alone the basic human decency to acknowledge her death? You must have been dropped on you head as an infant, because that's the only logical explanation for how you're acting."

By now Nora was on the verge of crying, tears welling up in her eyes and her lip starting to tremble.

"W-w-weiss…?"

"You think that just wishing really really hard is going to bring her back?" Weiss continued, "You think if you act like nothing's changed then that will magically make everything all better? Well, real life doesn't work like that you sniveling, delusional, naive dolt! You're no better than the Grimm we fight if you think you can get away with being so _utterly disrespectful_ to Ruby's memory." She tossed Nora onto the floor, folding her arms over her chest and looking like she was about to shoot laser beams from her eyes. "Well, what do have to say for yourself?"

For a moment Nora just sat there, so shocked and horrified by the vitriol Weiss spat at her that she didn't know how to react. Then, her brain finally deciding on the appropriate response and she let out the most heart wrenching wail anyone had ever heard. The crying continued as she picked herself and ran out of the hall, barreling through whoever was in her way.

"Hmph, good riddance-"

SMACK! Blake's hand flew through the air, striking Weiss across her face and leaving a red welt where it hit.

"You bitch…," she said, before jumping over the table and rushing after Nora.

"That was totally uncalled for, Schnee," Yang said, "What the actual hell?"

Weiss was petrified. Just as Nora wasn't expecting the savage tongue lashing Weiss had dished out, neither was she expecting the normally stoic and temperate Faunus girl to hit her like she had, so full of disapproval and sadness. It didn't actually hurt that much physically, the sting of pain was actually starting to fade now, rather it was like someone had managed to wound her internally, on a level that was beyond the physical.

"Weiss?" Yang prompted again, "Feel like sharing with the rest of the class why you just gave Nora the verbal equivalent of thirty lashes?"

"How...how _dare_ she!" Weiss balked, slipping back into her years as a debutante, "How dare she strike me? _Me!_" She started walking after Blake, intent showing the Faunus the error of her ways. The other students hurriedly shuffled out of her way, lest they become her next victim.

"Hey!" Yang called after her, visibly annoyed, "Ice Queen, you didn't answer my-"

"_Get stuffed, Xiao-Long!"_ the heiress shot back before disappearing through the cafeteria doors.

It took twelve other students to keep Yang from charging off and wreaking unholy havoc upside Weiss's snooty head.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_So yeah, Monty Oum passed away on Feb 1, 2015 at the age of 33. It's incredibly tragic, and as of this posting it's not known how or if RWBY will continue. Still, I'm going to continue writing and hope for the best, so you might be seeing more of this particular story soon. _


	4. Aftershock 2

_So in the last chapter we saw Weiss finally lose her cool and really lay into Nora. _

_You think _that's_ bad!... (trying to sound like Peter Griffin.)_

**__Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die.__**

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Weiss was furious. She'd just lost her best friend, and Blake had the sheer _gall_ to punish her for putting someone in their place for making light of the whole thing? Who did that peasant Faunus think she was, anyway? A piece of her mind was too light a retribution, as Weiss fully intended to come to blows over this offense to her person. She'd have to be careful not to go overboard, though; just enough of a beatdown to make her point. She was a Schnee after all, and more than that she was _Weiss_ Schnee, and Weiss Schnee had her pride as the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Empire to think of.

She was so focused on avenging her wounded pride that she didn't notice someone coming down a crossing hallway until they'd already collided.

"Watch where you're going, Peasant!" she snapped, before realized who it actually was she ran into.

"A fine hello to you to, Ice Queen," Cardin Winchester said sarcastically, "What crawled up your butt and died?"

"Out of my way, Winchester, it is _so_ not funny how much I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Hey, whatever you're doing, don't let me stop you! I just wanted to give you my heartfelt condolences for Ruby's untimely demise."

This gave Weiss pause, and causing her to raise her eyebrow curiously. Cardin had always be the de facto "school bully" of Beacon, and over the years that hadn't changed much; for him to be acting so considerate and kind all of a sudden raised every red flag Weiss had about the boy.

"Why do I not believe you?" she asked him point blank.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised you don't take me seriously," he admitted, "but I'm being truthful here, I really am sorry that she died; I even shed a tear for her and everything at the assembly!" He wiped away an imaginary tear to prove his point. "That's one notch I'll never get to make…."

She seriously hoped he wasn't going where she thought he was going.

"...what?"

"'Notch'. You know, like 'notch in the bedpost'?"

He was. In addition to him being the schoolyard bully and infamously bigoted to the Faunus, he'd also developed a reputation of the years as being something of a womanizer. And with how manipulative he could be (Jaune had told them all about his first year), Weiss had no reason to doubt it.

"As in, 'sleep with her'?" Cardin unwisely continued.

Weiss was beyond furious now, and even _livid_ was probably an understatement. This was so much worse than Nora's blatant denial, it wasn't even _on the scale_ of Bad Taste.

"With that cute little body of hers she would have been _magical_, and she probably would have been all like '_Please be gentle'_ and '_Don't put it there!'_ and shit, like something straight out of those animated pornos Sky likes to watch. I tell you, life just isn't fair sometimes…" It was then that he noticed Weiss seething, and couldn't resist getting in one more jab, "But you probably already knew all that, am I right?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"While you're all powerful in your own rights," Glynda told her class, "relying solely on your own strength in battle is both stupid and dangerous, as it opens up the possibility for your defeat at the hands of an opponent or a Grimm more powerful than you. Conversely, relying too much on your teammates will cause your own skills to stagnate and you will become a liability, ultimately leading to the same result. Therefore, it is important to improve your own skills while at the same time learning how to work well with them.

"Working with your designated partner may be easy enough, but there are still two other teammates to think about. So, today's exercise will be-"

Suddenly the doors burst open and Cardin Winchester flew into the room, only coming to a stop when Glynda intervened.

"Mr. Winchester," she said, lowering him to the floor, "would you care to explain this interruption?"

Before he could answer, Weiss barreled in after him, tackling the poor boy to the ground. Creating a black glyph under him, she laid blow after rage filled blow into his face, punctuating each hit with a monstrous, inhuman growl.

"Miss Schnee, stop this this instant!" Glynda ordered, only to fall on deaf ear as Weiss continued to wail on Cardin, his face starting to turn black and blue. With a wave of her riding crop Weiss suddenly flew off of Cardin, landing against the wall with a thud. (The impact caused a small crater to form.) Weiss tried to lunge at Cardin again, only to be held in place by invisible bonds.

With the irate girl finally restrained her Semblance wore off, allowing Cardin to pick himself up and hide behind his fellow classmates.

"Young lady," Glynda asked Weiss, "what on earth possessed you to attack Mr. Winchester?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Cardin replied automatically, "I was just minding my own business and she fucking came out of nowhere, and-!"

"Go to the infirmary and have yourself examined," Glynda told him, "then go report to Principal Ozpin once that's taken care of." She continued before he could complain, "I'm well aware of your reputation, Mr. Winchester, so I highly doubt you're entirely blameless in this incident. Considering you're the victim in this case your punishment won't be that severe, but consider this experience a lesson in going too far." She waved him off and turned her attention back to Weiss, who was still struggling against Glynda's restraints, albeit more feebly now. "I must say, Miss Schnee, I'm positively shocked that you would act this way; any other student maybe, Miss Xiao-Long almost certainly, but not from you! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Weiss just hung there, seething. She'd heard Ms. Goodwitch ask the question, but she was far from composed enough to form an answer.

"Regardless of your reasons, you still attacked a student outside of a combat simulation or a sanctioned match, with clear intent of harm, and as such you will be punished _quite_ severely; report to detention until classes end, then come see myself and Prof. Ozpin. We will decide your full punishment then. Do you understand?"

Weiss nodded silently.

"Very well," Glynda let her down, "go on, then."

Without a word, Weiss walked stiffly out of the classroom, heading off to sit out the remainder of the day alone.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Detention was boring, which didn't surprise Weiss one bit. Over the course of her time at Beacon, she'd unfortunately become intimately familiar with this room, after she and the rest of Team RWBY ended up here after many a misadventure or antic. It used to be a scenario that the Schnee Heiress had thought inconceivable, until Ruby had come into her life and caused her to rethink many things as a result.

It hurt to remember her young leader. Unfortunately, with only herself as company, there was little to keep the memories from floating to the surface. She tried to block them out with whatever frivolous thoughts or ideas she could come up with, but somehow they made their way back to Ruby Rose laying on the ground, her throat torn open.

_Why is that the only thing I can think of?_ she pondered, _Why can't I think of anything else but that? It's the _last _thinking I want to be thinking about right now._ Hoping maybe it was just the stress of everything that had happened, she decided to take a quick nap. After finding a comfortable position to rest in, she laid her head down on her desk and closed her eyes, letting herself drift off into the realm of sleep.

It wasn't long before she entered REM cycle, and her mind began to conjure up images of RWBY all hanging out in the center of Vale, eating ice cream and laughing together. Yang made another of her horrible puns, and Blake smacked Yang upside her head with one of her paws. She then dragged everyone over to a rolling field filled with all manner of butterflies, her ears and tail twitching in excitement. Yang then followed suit after putting on her cowboy hat and her Aviator shades, twirling her lasso as she whooped in equal excitement. Ruby immediately began rolling around in the soft, metal flowers, picking a bouquet of red roses for herself. She then handed the white roses to Weiss, who marveled at their beauty. After shaking some weird black stuff off the bouquet, she put them in a vase as they all sat down to dinner, wearing their best turtle costumes they'd borrowed from Team JNPR (they were wearing sloth costumes instead). As the polar bear Maitre D who brought them their food he turned out to be Ray of the Achieve Men, sweating because he wasn't used to the warmer climate of Vale.

They all enjoyed the sautéed earrings they'd ordered, passing their compliments along to Ozpin for being such a good chef. A moment later the chef/headmaster wheeled out a cauldron of boiling ice cream, only it continued to overflow and soon they were all underwater where the Achieve Men's yellow, Banana submarine was, so polar bear Ray was saved, able to battle the hordes of Mogar another day. Meanwhile, Weiss couldn't reach the surface, despite flapping her wings as hard as she could, until she eventually fell back to the ground, rolling and tumbling up the hill. She looked around as she came to a stop, recognizing the place as the same location they were hunting Grimm the other day, only now everything was on fire, burning just outside her vision. She then spotted a figure laying on the ground and she rushed over to help, only to find that it was Ruby, her neck utterly ripped to shreds. "Weiss," she croaked, though by all logic she really shouldn't have been able to say anything at all, what with her vocal chords missing, "why…?" Weiss looked up at the mirror, but what she saw wasn't her normal reflection; she had the head of a wolf, covered in white fur, with vibrant red blood dripping from her jaws, and a red Aura glowing around her. _She_ was the one to kill Ruby, it was all her fault, all her fault, her fault, her fault, her fault, her fault, her fault, her fault-

Weiss woke with a start, crying out as reality came rushing back to her; she was sitting in the detention room at Beacon, after attacking Cardin Winchester. She wasn't part Grimm, Blake didn't have paws or a tail, and Yang didn't have a cowboy hat. (At least as far as she knew.)

"Damn it...," she sighed, wishing for something, _anything,_ to get her mind off Ruby.

"Must have been a hell of a dream," Yang said from behind her, "I only caught something about 'polar bear' and 'sautéed earrings', but that last part seemed intense."

Weiss gasped, whirling around in her seat. Yang was indeed sitting in the chair behind her, leaning back casually.

"What are you doing here?" Weiss asked, sounding slightly exhausted. The last she knew, Yang was back in the cafeteria, most likely being held back before she could destroy her.

"Someone graffitied 'Achieve Men rule, Yang wuz here' in Ms. Goodwitch's office, and I magically ended up here," the blond girl explained. "Honestly, I needed to talk to you, and this was the easiest way I could think of to make that happen."

"Well _congratulations_, you found me!" she said, obviously being sarcastic, "If you're here to deliver an apology from Blake, don't bother, she needs to tell me herself."

"Yeah, see, _this_," Yang said, dropping all humor, "is what we need to talk about, this…" She gestured to Weiss. "...sudden bitchiness fit of yours."

"And what makes you think you have the right to psychoanalyze me?" Weiss inquired, crossing her arms over her chest challengingly.

"Absolutely nothing," Yang said, crossing her arms over her own ample bosom, "but as your friend, I'm worried about how you're taking my sister's death." She sighed tiredly, counting off on her fingers, "You've been ignoring you friends, brushing aside everyone else's concern, downright bit Nora's head off, and on top of it all you nearly killed Cardin, not that he didn't have it coming in spades." She dropped her arm, her face softening into a caring expression, "Weiss, what's going on? You can tell me."

Every ounce of Weiss's being screamed at her not to say anything, twenty years of noble pride fighting to retain what little dignity it still possessed.

And yet...she'd nearly killed someone, never mind who. She never used to be this savage, even before ever coming to Beacon. And she'd certainly never snapped at someone as harshly as she had Nora.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I promise not to breath a word you say in here to anyone else under threat of death," Yang said, holding her pointer and middle finger in the air together.

She could tell Yang was being sincere, and she knew that talking would help, at least academically, but….

"You wouldn't understand," she said, her tongue running ahead of her mind, "Besides, you seem to be perfectly fine with the whole thing."

For a moment neither girl said anything, simply staring at each other. Then, Yang slowly stood up…

And slapped her so hard that Weiss fell out of her chair.

"You think you're the only one suffering because of this?" Yang shouted, "That you're the only one who lost someone? I watched my little sister get her throat torn out by Grimm. She's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I've always been there to protect her. So how do think _I_ feel, to watch her die right in front of me, not able to do anything but watch?" She sat back down and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"You want to know how I killed the Grimm?" she asked, "After I caught up with it, and after I beat it around a little, I powered down. I thought 'it's not enough just to kill it, it needs to suffer for what it's done'. So, I broke its legs so it couldn't escape, found a good sized rock, and began beating him with it." A tear ran down Yang's cheek, "I must have gone at it for a good three hours, but by the end of it I still didn't feel like it had suffered enough. Then I realized what I was doing, and that no matter what I did, no matter how much I pleaded, it wasn't going to bring my sister back. I put the creature out of its misery and headed into town to let off whatever steam I still had left. And, well, I'm sure you saw the rest on the news."

"I get your point," Weiss said after Yang finished telling her story, rubbing her cheek where she'd been struck, "I'm not the only who's affected by this."

"No I don't think you do. I mean, I'm glad you realize that, but the point I was trying to make was that everyone deals with grief differently. Take Nora for instance." Weiss's face fell a little at the mention of the JNPR member. "She may act happy all the time, and I know you haven't had the most conventional upbringing so this might not occur to you, but not everyone else in the world reacts to things the same way as you do, so she either hides a lot of her real emotions or she legitimate needs to act like that to cope."

Weiss felt a little indignant at Yang's insinuation about her upbringing, but she knew what the blond brawler was trying to say.

"Blake told me that when Nora threw her little 'memorial party', Jaune broke down and cried for ten minutes. Ren was working on a poem the whole time, and Pyrrha always held Juane's hand. Even 'glass half full' _Sun Wukong_ seemed strangely subdued throughout the night. I'm not saying that you're wrong for feeling the way you do, Monty knows I'm not one to judge...but there's a right way and a wrong way to handle this, and what you did with Nora and Cardin was completely the wrong way to handle this."

"...you wouldn't happen to know how Nora's doing now," Weiss asked, subdued, "would you?"

"I think she's doing fine now," Yang said, "The last I heard, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren took her back to their room and just let her cry it out; she should be back to her normal hyper, bubbly self in a few days, if I had to guess. When you get the chance, you should go apologize for snapping at her like do did." She got up again and embraced Weiss in a strong hug, "And I think it's time you had a good cry yourself, Ice Queen."

Weiss wasn't expecting Yang to hug her then; truth be told, she was fully expecting to get hit again, she certainly deserved it. Now that she was in this position, all the pent up grief and sorrow and everything she'd been trying to suppress the last day all came surging forth, despite her best efforts to push them back.

Long overdue tears started to fall as she hugged Yang back.

"It's just so unfair," she said, her voice little more than a whisper, "why did it have to be her? She was so young, why did she have to be the one to die? How come it wasn't one of us?"

"I don't know," Yang said understandingly, "sometimes life just isn't fair."

"Do you know what she said to me before she died?" By now small sobs were starting to choke their way out of Weiss's throat. "She said that being my friend was the best thing about coming to Beacon. She was dying, but she just looked so happy when she said that, like she was so sure that everything would be alright." Her sobs intensified, "How on earth could she saying that about me when I was so mean to her?"

"Whether she knew it or not, Ruby had a talent they seeing who a person really was on the inside," Yang explained. "This may sound corny as hell, but maybe that's why she liked you so much, because she was able to look inside your heart and see that deep down you really were a good person."

Weiss chuckled through her sobs. "Which one of Blake's trashy romance novellas did you get that line out of?" she scoffed.

"_'Ninjas of Love Recurve 3; Intrusion'_," Yang answered without missing a beat. "But seriously, that probably was why she liked you, despite all the shit you gave her."

Weiss nodded wordlessly, crying into Yang's blazer. "I don't deserve a friend like her," she whispered.

"None of us did, that's what made her so special." Yang sniffed a little, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Damn it, I'm gonna miss her so much!"

"Me too!" Weiss sobbed.

"Actually, you wanna know what the best part of this is?" Yang asked in between sniffles. "It's that Ruby can finally see her mom again."

"Yeah..."

The girls stayed like that for a while, crying into each other's shoulders until their sobs devolved into hiccups.

"By the way, what was that dream you were having earlier?"

"I barely remember most of it," Weiss explained, "except for the end…"

"Do you not want to talk about it?" Yang asked carefully.

"No, it's not that, it's just...right before I woke up, I...I saw myself as the Grimm that killed Ruby."

"Damn, that's rough."

"It was...quite disconcerting. ...It makes me wonder if I wasn't somehow responsible for-"

"OK, I'm gonna stop you right there," Yang held up her hand, "I hereby forbid you from ever thinking Ruby's death was your fault. If you do, I'm gonna have to hit you again." She smiled goodnaturedly. Weiss smiled back, accepting Yang's terms.

After that, the two of them sat in silence, allowing themselves to just sit there. They got so used to the silence that they almost didn't notice someone in the doorway clearing their throat.

"*ahem*," Glynda coughed, "Miss Xiao-Long, you're free to go now; Ozpin and I need to have a conversation with Miss Schnee."

"See you back at the room," Yang said, waving back as she left the classroom.

"Yeah, see you," Weiss waved back. She felt relieved, more so that she had in the past twenty-four hours. Despite her puffy eyes and runny nose, crying her heart out had been just the thing she needed. Talking with Yang had also been nice and felt somewhat cathartic.

Now, though, it was time to face the music.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_I don't know about you, but to me, that felt good; sometimes, you just need a good cry to help you work through tragedy. Sometimes the sorrow won't completely fade away, but hiding the pain and shunning help and comfort tends to not be as beneficial as [doing so] seems at the time. The phrase "misery loves company", to me, isn't a just a poetic way of referring to a pity party, but more a reminder that you never have to weather the storm alone. _

_Anyway, next time we'll see what kind of music Weiss will have to face. Until then, go celebrate Monty's life and watch RWBY, the later seasons of Red vs. Blue he worked on, his Dead Fantasy videos, and Haloid, his Halo/Metroid crossover. _


	5. Second Aftermath

_And now we come to the end of the narrative, barring a short epilogue. Weiss as been through quite a journey over the course of these chapters, hasn't she? Now though, her journey is at an end, coming full circle._

_Also, I play around with a few RWBY characters that haven't really been flushed out within the show itself. (More on them in the closing.)_

__**Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die.**__

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Weiss returned to Team RWBY's dorm room (it felt somewhat surreal to still refer to the room as that, it now dawned on her, like she was referring to something that she wasn't a part of anymore), feeling a strange mixture of relief and sadness. She found Blake and Yang already there, sitting on her bunk.

"How'd it go?" Yang asked.

"I got suspended for a month," she said, not bothering with pleasantries, "and I'm getting a fail for this quarter."

"I see," Blake said neutrally.

"And I have to see a counselor."

"Yeah, that kinda figures," Yang said. She shrugged, "Could have been worse, though; at least you weren't expelled."

None of the girls responded to that, stewing in the awkward silence for about a minute before Blake cleared her throat.

"Weiss, you-"

"Wait," the girl in question interrupted, holding up her hand, "let me go first." She took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever their reactions would be (mostly Blake's though, as she and Yang seemed to have made peace already; Weiss was reasonably sure that the cat Faunus was still angry with her for how she treated Nora before). "I just want to say that I'm sorry for acting like a bitch before. I let my emotions get the better off me, and I no doubt hurt a lot of people in the process. It was childish and immature of me, and I hope you guys can forgive me for that."

"You already know what my answer will be," Yang said, "but for the record, yes Weiss, I accept your apology. We're cool." She gave Weiss a cheesy thumbs up, then turned to her Faunus teammate, "Et tu, Blake?"

"The person you should really be apologizing to is Nora," Blake said impassively, her face giving no hint to her feelings one way or the other. "What you did was verbal abuse, in no uncertain terms."

"I know," Weiss said sorrowfully, "I was going to visit JNPR's room after I came here; I just really needed to know my best friends didn't hate me."

For a long moment Blake said nothing. Then, as her face began to soften, she pulled Weiss into a warm hug, squeezing gently.

"I forgive you," she said, "there's no way I'm throwing away our friendship over this, especially after all the progress you've made."

"Like you haven't changed as well, you dolt!" Weiss chuckled before forcing herself to keep from wincing at yet another reminder of Ruby. "I don't think I'm ever really going to stop missing her."

"I don't think any of us will stop missing her," Blake said, finally breaking the hug, "but as long as we stick together, I think we'll be able to handle it."

"Just like in Ninjas of Love: Eternal Binding!"

Blake glared at Yang, "Have you been stealing my books?"

"Not recently," Yang answered shamelessly, "and the term you're looking for is 'borrowing them'; notice how they're always back in their proper place?"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Like Ozpin had implied, there were only a few people who came along to the northern part of Vale where Ruby's gave was located; it had been decided that she would be buried next to her mother's grave, anything else didn't seem appropriate. Weiss, Yang, Blake, Team JNPR, Penny, Ozpin, and even Taiyang Xiao-Long had all gathered around Ruby's casket before it was lowered into the grave.

"I never thought I'd ever be burying one of my daughters," Taiyang said, looking like he was about to break out into tears at any moment, "it was bad enough when I lost Summer…" The normally boisterous Yang wrapped her father in a hug without speaking, letting the action say what words couldn't. The elder Xiao-Long wrapped an appreciative arm around his first daughter, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Nora?" Ren asked, looking over at his partner, "Are you going to be OK?"

"Yeah...I think so," Nora said, sounding unusually subdued. After Weiss had apologized to her, the petite girl seemed to cheer up slightly, though she was still somewhat melancholy for the rest of the night. Before the group had set out for the grave site she'd been asked if she would be able to handle the simple funeral, to which she nodded meekly and said yes. "I did a lot of thinking last night," she explained, "and I want to do this, for Ruby."

"That's good to hear," Pyrrha said, patting Nora's shoulder affectionately, "just remember we're all here if you need a shoulder to cry on."

"And don't be ashamed to cry either," Jaune added, "Light knows I'm probably going to be a wreck before this is over."

Nora nodded, tears already beginning to form in the corners of her eyes at how wonderful her friends were being.

"Are _you_ going to be alright?" Blake asked, turning to Weiss, "I'm sure Prof. Ozpin will understand if you didn't want to say anything."

"No," she said, "I'm going to go through with this." Her hands clenched, nearly crumpling the paper she held. "It's the least I can do now…"

"I have great faith that you will do your best, Friend-Weiss," Penny said.

After a few minutes of scattered, empty small talk, Ozpin cleared his throat, standing over the casket.

"Friends and dearly beloved," he began, "we're all gathered here to say our final goodbyes to-"

"_Hold everything!"_

Everyone turn to the owner of the new voice, wondering who would dare interrupt someone's funeral? Besides a Grimm attack, this was the last thing anyone was expecting.

The newcomer was a man around Weiss's height, covered in a dark cloak with a hood that obscured most of his face. Aside from that, the other most notable feature about him was the large scythe he had strapped to his back.

"Qrow?" Taiyang said in disbelief, "Where've you been? We've been trying to reach you, but you were completely out of contact."

"I've been around," he said, "enough that I heard about little Rosebud's funeral from the news,- nice speech by the way, Ozzy - and I figured this is where it was going to happen." He walked up to the casket and placed a hand on it, "I doubt I'm bringing anything new to the table when I say I never thought this would happen, right?"

"Would you care to stay?" Ozpin said, gesturing to a spot next to Yang and her father.

"Yeah," he said, "I think I will." He took his place next to Taiyang, nudging him gently, "Some family reunion, huh?"

"Not the time, Qrow!"

"If there are no more interruptions?" Ozpin said, glaring at Qrow. He then cleared his throat and continued, "As I was saying, we're all here to say our final goodbyes to Ruby Rose, 18, daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao-Long. If anyone would like to do so, this will be your last chance." He popped a latch on the side of the casket, lifting a hatch open and revealing Ruby's face; makeup had been applied to her face to offset the natural deathly pallor, making her look like a doll, and a red scarf was wrapped around her neck, obscuring the wound.

Taiyang was the first one to step forth.

"Goodbye, Ruby," he said, finally unable to hold back his tears any longer, "I'm sorry you were never able to make you dream come true…" He tried to hold back his sorrow, but it was a losing battle, so he retreated back between his daughter and brother-in-law.

"You always were a softy...," Qrow sighed, patting Taiyang comfortingly on this back.

Penny came up next, looking as morose as she was able.

"Friend-Ruby," she said, "you were the first person I even met who treated me like an actual person instead of an artificial being like everyone else did. It is something I will hold dear until the end of my life cycle. I hope that you will find satisfaction and happiness, wherever you are right now."

"That was beautiful," Blake told Penny. The android smiled, nodded her thanks, and rejoined her friends.

What happened next surprised everyone, as Nora walked up to the casket.

"I-I'm not really good at this kind of thing," she stammered, "so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say right now...I guess I'm sorry for not taking your death seriously." She sniffed, wiping her nose, "So yeah, I'm sorry about that." She then ran back to Ren and glomped him. After a brief moment of shock at the action, the stoic gunslinger hugged her back.

When no one else came up, Ozpin spoke again, "If no one else has anything to say, then I believe Weiss has something she'd like to share." He stepped to the side, allowing Weiss to take his place.

"When I first met Ruby, it wasn't under the best of circumstances," she began. "She initially struck me as a foolish, naive girl who was just playing dress up. She was clueless, impolite, klutzy, and from all indications I'd seen up to that point, quite possibly mentally impaired.

"But the more time we spent together, the more I began to see how wrong I was. She has a surprisingly acute sense of perception, and was able to quickly assess a situation and come up with an appropriate solution. She was always unwaveringly optimistic, always trying to find the best in people, always willing to give them a chance. If someone had a problem, she was always willing to lend them a hand; she was outmatched in this regard only by Jaune Arc."

Jaune sniffled, threatening to break into tears. As usual, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around him, doing whatever she could to comfort him.

Weiss continued, "There was one time, after the crisis with the New White Fang, that I think proves all this beyond the shadow of a doubt. She, Yang, Blake and I were hanging out in Vale on a day off from school. It was near the end of the day, and we were about to head back to the school, when there was a commotion coming from the inside of one of the stores; a moment later a woman came out holding a young girl at gunpoint, demanding at she get a vehicle or else she would shoot the child.

"Before any of us could blink, Ruby had already rescued the child and was giving the woman a chance to walk away from her mess. The woman then fired at her, Ruby dodging out of the way. She left the child with the police that had just arrived, and proceeded to lead the deranged woman away from the crowds. By the time the rest of us caught up with her, she had her gun aimed direction at Ruby's forehead.

"And Ruby...she just stood standing there, a sad smile of her face, telling her not to throw her life away, to think of all the people who still loved her. It boggled my mind how she could just stand there and hope that the woman would just make the right choice. ...and the darnedest thing was that it worked; the woman dropped her gun and fell to her knees, sobbing. Then Ruby knelt down herself and and hugged her."

Tears started to well up in in the corner of Weiss's eyes, "I think that's when I finally realized what a truly special person Ruby was; if I were in her place, I doubt I would have allowed the woman the chance to walk away without seriously injuring her, yet somehow she was able to solve the situation without resorting to violence.

"So however else you remember Ruby Rose, remember her as the girl who put her life at risk for anyone, whether they're a child, or someone who other people write off as lost. Thank you." Her speech concluded, she rushed back to her place next to Blake, accepting the handkerchief the Faunus offered.

"That was quite beautiful, Weiss," Ozpin said, placing a hand on the casket lid, "would anyone else like to say a few words?" When no one else stepped forward, he gently shut the lid, "Very well then." He then grabbed hold of a level on the apparatus that held the casket, "We now commend the body of Ruby Rose to the ground, to return from whence she came, as will all of us some day." He pulled the lever back, causing the casket to lower into the hole. "Ruby, I hope you'll find peace in whatever waits for your spirit."

Jaune, Taiyang and Weiss, who had been holding back their tears until now, finally let them flow freely.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_And that, as they say, is that. All that's left is the epilogue and some extras I've saved for after, mostly for levity's sake, as well as some bit I decided to cut because otherwise they would disrupt the tone of the story._

_Now let's talk about Taiyang and Qrow. When I was writing this in November, I obviously got to thinking about who would be attending Ruby's funeral. It was always a given that her surviving family would be in attendance, which meant I had little to nothing to go on for Qrow and Taiyang's characters. For Qrow, there isn't a physical description of him, and only slightly more in terms of his personality, save for a static image in Volume 2, episode 6. I don't know how or where I got the idea to make him a smart ass, but it just stuck. As for Taiyang, there's even less about him than Qrow, (outside of fan speculation). I figured he would probably be pretty devastated after losing his daughter (wouldn't you?), and that he wouldn't be where Yang inherited her own happy-go-lucky attitude._

_Also, why wouldn't Penny be there? Ruby was her very first friend!_

_Anywho, the epilogue should be along presently, followed by the Extras. Stay strong out there, party people!_


	6. Epilogue

_Here we go, the very end. Thank you to everyone who followed this story. I hope I could bring some small measure of enjoyment and catharsis in light of Monty's untimely passing, and I hope that you all will create something yourselves to honor the Almighty Creator. _

_After this, I'll be posting the parts of the story I cut for tone, followed by a couple lighter bits so we don't come out of this all depressed. _

__**Dedicated to Monty Oum, creator of RWBY, 1981-2015. May his Fantasy never die.**__

__/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_

Later that night Weiss was laying in Ruby's bunk (no one really had the will to take it down), trying and failing to fall asleep. There had been a reception after the short memorial service, in which she and the others downed a few drinks in their late friend's honor. She'd felt strangely drained since the funeral, and had retired for the night earlier than her friends.

_All I want is a good night's rest,_ she thought to herself, unable to get comfortable. She thought that drowning herself in the Ruby's rose scented bedding might have some kind of calming effect, possibly due to the alcohol she imbibed, but sleep continued to elude her, and she couldn't put her finger on the cause, _that's not too much to ask, is it?_

In hindsight, drinking as much as she did wasn't a smart thing to do. Never having ingested more than a few sips of the stuff at the formal events she attended before coming to Beacon, she found that she didn't have a high tolerance after Yang spiked everyone's drinks one night.

As such, it didn't take very many drinks before she began to feel their effects.

_Whoever invented alcohol should be drug out to the streets and shot…._

"_And what did that poor person ever do to you?"_

Weiss shot straight up, hitting her head against the ("OW!") ceiling, biting back a curse. Because of the booze in her system, the slight pain of the normally mild thud was amplified.

"I'm gonna kill the person that invented ceilings as well!" she muttered. After riding out the pain to an acceptable level (and holding her head as she did so) she looked over the side of the suspended bed. She wondered if Yang or Blake had returned yet and had heard her-

A glowing, floating, translucent Ruby Rose was hovering next to the bunk.

"_Please don't freak out," _the glowing spectre pleaded before Weiss could react, "_I know this is probably pretty weird." _

Weiss had frozen in place, a scream just about to leave her mouth. In her half inebriated state, Weiss had some trouble processing exactly what she was seeing. Not able to come up with any logical explanation for this whole situation, she decided to just go along with whatever this ghost told her.

"_I don't know how long I can do this, so I'll try to make this quick,"_ she said, "_I'm still not really sure how I'm able to do this, but I'm able to kinda see bits from your guys lives from the afterlife or wherever I am. Specifically, I saw everything that happen to you these last few days. It...I didn't know my death would be so hard for you." _

"It's not like you _tried_ to get your throat bitten," Weiss said said, bringing her knees up to her chest, "there wasn't anything we could have done about it anyway…."

"_Hey, I'm not blaming you for that!" _Ruby clarified, "_Oh gees, how to explain…. It's more like, like...I have no idea. Man, I'm really bad at this, aren't I?"_

Weiss chuckled at that despite herself. "It's gonna be so different without you around…."

"_I know! How are you guys ever gonna wake up on time without me?" _

Weiss chuckled again, though this time accompanied by a fresh batch of tears.

"_Oh no, this is _totally_ not what I wanted to happen! Um, there there?" _The ephemeral girl attempted to pat Weiss on the back, only for her hand to pass through the heiress's back. "_OK, wasn't expecting that…"_

"So, what's with the sudden after death visit?" Weiss asked, shivering a bit at Ruby's "touch". "Unfinished business? Your soul doomed to wander Remnant? Didn't want to leave without one more plate of cookies?"

"_I just wanted to say goodbye,"_ Ruby said simply. "_I was hoping Yang and Blake would be here as well. Where are they?"_

"They're still with our friends, probably getting royally smashed or something. Not really my idea of a good time." She looked at the spirit floating beside her, "Are you going to go say goodbye to them as well?"

"_I'm not sure I can; it took a lot of effort for me to make myself appear like this at all, and I think I can already feel myself slipping back, so...you'll tell everyone for me?"_

"If I remember," Weiss said as Ruby started to fade. "Hey, Ruby?"

"_Yeah?"_

"...I'm glad we became friends too."

Ruby smiled before disappearing completely.

Weiss wasn't sure if what just happened was real or just the product of alcohol and a possible concussion, but at the same time it was brought a sense of closer that she hadn't realized had been missing, even after giving her eulogy. She felt...at peace, finally.

_Farewell, Ruby Rose…_

She then laid back on the suspended bed, hoping that she wouldn't actually have a concussion in the morning.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Was that enough time?" a figure asked as Ruby faded back into Limbo.

"Yeah," she sighed, kicking at the ethereal ground, "I kinda thought I'd be able stay for more than eight minutes, though..." She looked up at the figure, a kindly gentleman that reminded her of Lie Ren for some reason (she couldn't put her finger on why, though), "You're sure I can't don't that one more time?"

"I'm sure," he said, "Besides, you don't want people thinking you're a ghost now, do you?"

"I guess not..."

"Don't worry," the man said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder and leading her on, "I'll make sure she remembers what you said.

"Really!?" she squealed, her eyes replaced by tiny, sparkling stars.

"It'll be like remembering a pleasant dream for her. Now come on, there's someone who wants to see you."

"The Almighty Creator himself?" Ruby marveled.

"Him too, but also someone who hasn't seen you in a long, long time."

"But who-" she wondered, before it clicked in her mind. She was barely able to contain her joy (or the tears of such) as she rushed off as fast as she could, a trail of rose petals in her wake.

The man simply smiled, making his way after her."

fin.

*ending song: This Will Be The Day (Acoustic)

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_And that's it. From here on out, I'll be posting the deleted scenes and other bonus features._

_Fun fact, the scene at the end with Ruby and the "figure that reminds of of Lie Ren" wasn't going to be in the story at all. However, with Monty's untimely passing, I strongly felt I had to do something more than just a dedication in memoriam of the man. Perhaps I'll do a full fledged tribute in the future, if I can think of a good enough idea._

_Once again, thank you to everyone who bothered to read this; I hope you were able to take some small comfort from this tale of grieving, and I sincerely hope that you will continue being creative in whatever your medium is. Have a blessed day, and I'll see you in the first cut scene._


	7. Deleted Scene 1

_OK, here's the first of the deleted scenes. This happens directly after Weiss declares Ruby to be dead._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_"It's useless," she continued, unsure whether she meant herself, Blake, the situation, or all three at once, "Ruby's dead." _

"I know," Blake signed, wiping her hands on her pants. "It's just, I've seen people die before, in the White Fang, but...I never thought that, that Ruby would ever..." She leaned over and closed Ruby's eyes.

"None of us did," Weiss said, putting her jacket back on. She didn't care that it was covered in blood, or that it was pretty much ruined because of that; she didn't particularly care much about anything right now. "We should bring her body back to Beacon."

"Shouldn't we wait for Yang first?" Blake wondered. "She was Ruby's sister; if anyone should accompany her back to Beacon, it's her."

"Did you see the state she was in before?" Weiss asked, now thinking surprisingly rational, "She probably would have attacked us if she was half as angry as she looked had one of us tried to stop her." She left out a tired sigh, "Let her rage for a bit, she can come back when she's ready."

"Fine," Blake relented, taking out her Scroll, "but I'm sending her a message about this."

While Blake sent Yang a text message (it read _"Ruby ddnt make it, taking her back 2 skool. Come back when UR ready."_) Weiss got in touch with Glynda Goodwitch to let her know what happened. Needless to say, even she was taken aback by the news of Ruby's untimely demise.

_"I'll send something to pick you up as soon as possible,"_ the teacher said, trying to remain professional. _"How are the rest of you doing?"_

"Blake and I are both uninjured," Weiss explained, "neither is Yang; she went to go chase after the Grimm." She paused, unsure exactly how to explain Yang's bloodrage without the professor worrying. "...she'll find her own way back when she's done with that."

_"I see."_ Thankfully, Glynda didn't press for details. _"The rescue ship is already on its way, set your Scroll to transmit an emergency beacon to confirm your location."_ With that, she signed off.

Now there was nothing to do but wait.


	8. Deleted Scene 2

_Here's deleted scene 2. It goes between the end of Aftershock 2 and the beginning of Second Aftermath. I cut it because to was kinda tedious compared to the big, emotion scene right before it._

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

She followed Glynda through the school until they reached the headmaster's office in the Academy's tower. Prof. Ozpin himself was sitting behind his desk, sipping his usual mug of coffee.

"Please have a seat, Miss Schnee," Ozpin said. He pushed a spot on his desk, which caused a chair to rise from the floor. "So...Glynda tells me that you had an altercation with Cardin Winchester earlier," he said as Weiss took the seat.

"I'd hardly put it as mildly as 'an altercation', sir," interjected Glynda, "Mr. Winchester looked like he might have a minor concussion-"

"Glynda, you already explained it to me." He glanced over at Weiss again, "Weiss?"

"It's true," she said, sitting straight. She knew there was no way of getting out of this gracefully, so she intended to take whatever consequences came from her actions with as much dignity as she could, "I attacked Cardin Winchester outside of a sanctioned match with the intent of doing serious harm, I won't deny that."

"And you're aware that the punishment for that is expulsion, plus a permanent black mark on your public record, as well as being formally charged with assault? All this will reflect extremely poorly on your future. It will be very difficult to find honest work, and even if you take over your father's business it will be extremely difficult to ever gain respect."

"I'm well aware of that," Weiss said, "I did fully read the rules after I enrolled here, sir."

"And you're still willing accept the consequences with this knowledge?"

"Yes, sir."

For a moment, no one said anything.

"...I'm curious, Miss Schnee, as to why you aren't protesting this. After all, your father is a very wealthy and very influential man, I'm sure it would hardly be a problem for him to commute the black mark and assault charges and at least allow you a better chance at a normal life."

"Yes sir, but I'm still going to accept the punishment." She thought for a moment, then came up with a suitable answer. "If I don't go through with this, I don't think I'll be able to look myself in the mirror; if Ruby were here, she would have done the same thing in my place."

"Very well," said Glynda, pulling up her Scroll, "if you're sure that's what you want-"

"Wait a moment, Glynda," Ozpin said, "Let's not be hasty."

"Excuse me?" She said, spinning around to face the headmaster.

"She's not going to be expelled or any of that nonsense."

"But...sir-!"

"It's obvious that extenuating circumstances were involved in this whole mess, and we both know Mr. Winchester doesn't have the best reputation as an upstanding student. Besides, it's clear that Miss Schnee has learned her lesson from this, so there's no need to pour salt on the wound. Not to mention her father would probably pull his funding from us when he found out…"

"B-b-but professor!" Glynda all but shrieked.

"I'm kidding, Glynda," he said humorlessly. Then he turned to Weiss, "But in all seriousness, Weiss, you're still going to have reprimanded. For starters, you're suspended for one month, and you'll receive a failing grade for the quarter. In addition, you'll need to see the one of the school counselors, attendance of which is mandatory."

Weiss practically couldn't believe her ears; she was absolutely certain that she had ruined her chances of graduating and here she was being offered a way out.

"Also, I'd like you to say something at the funeral, being Ruby's assigned partner. If you feel able."

"Um...I think I can handle that, sir."

"Very well then. Ms. Goodwitch, please log Miss Schnee's punishment as such."

"Whatever you say, sir," the teacher sighed, knowing she wasn't going to change her boss's mind.

"You're free to go now, Miss Schnee."

Weiss got up, bowed, and left the office, a solemn smile creeping its way onto her face.

"I know what you're going to ask," he said as Glynda regarded him quizzically, "and I'm not going to make the poor girl suffer needlessly. The loss of Ruby Rose clearly hit her quite hard, or else she wouldn't have reacted so strongly to something Cardin Winchester did."

"Really?"

"Indeed. You may not be aware of this, but I was quite the hotheaded little rapscallion back in the day," he explained, shopping his coffee, "When I was around five or six years old someone very dear to me was killed during an attack by the Grimm, mostly Ursai and a few Boarbatusks if memory serves. Anyway, they sucked, and I ended up watching that person get ripped apart before my very young eyes; to this day I still count it as the most traumatic moment of my life."

"So," Glynda realized, "that's the reason for-"

"For why I molded this school the way I did," he said, interrupting her before she could finish her thought, "But my point is that I reacted much like Weiss did...worse even, because I lashed out at _everyone._"

The teacher took a moment to let what the headmaster said sink in. Granted, she still thought he was being too lenient, but she also understood that emotions often had a mind of their own. (Especially as a teenager, her own memories of the few times she'd let her temper get the better off her coming to mind.)

"Besides, expelling someone now, especially a celebrity like Weiss Schnee, would be a blow to the students' morale that we simply don't need right now."

"If you say so." She let out a sigh of longing, "I wish you would have been just a _tad_ more severe in her punishment..."

"Glynda...," Ozpin said warningly, "what have I told you about bullying the students?"

"Sorry, sir."

"Good." He took another sip of his coffee satisfactorily, "I suppose I'd better go find out what actually happened to Miss Rose so I can make a statement about it, hadn't I?"


	9. Deleted Scene 3: Nora

_So this one was written as a bonus scene from the get go. It takes place right after Weiss explodes at Nora in the cafeteria. _

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"_W-w-weiss…?" _

"_You just think that just wishing really really hard is going to bring her back?" Weiss continued, "You think if you act like nothing's changed then that will magically make everything all better? Well, real life doesn't work like that you sniveling, delusional, naive dolt! You're no better than the Grimm we fight if you think you can get away with being so utterly disrespectful to Ruby's memory." She Nora onto the floor, folding her arms over her chest and looking like she was about to shoot laser beams from her eyes. "Well, what do have to say for yourself?" _

_For a moment Nora just sat there, so shocked and horrified by the vitriol Weiss spat at her that she didn't know how to react. Then, her brain finally deciding on the appropriate response and she let out the most heart wrenching wail anyone had ever heard. The crying continued as she picked herself and ran out of the hall, barreling through whoever was in her way… _

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Now extend your arm like this," Pyrrha explained to the room full of students gathered in one of the arenas, thrusting Miló in its xiphos form so it curved around Akoúo̱ and speared the air in front of it, "that way you transition from defense to offense without lowering your guard, as well as giving you a chance to counterattack." She motioned for Jaune to attack her, raising Akoúo̱ in front of her. He did so, bringing Crocea Mors down on her shield from above.

"The important thing about remember about fighting with both an offensive and defensive weapons," she continued as she and Jaune held their pose, "is to treat them both as an extension yourselves, not as two interchangeable tools. Does anyone here have any experience in unarmed fighting?" A few of the younger students raised their hands. "It's the same principle as boxing; guard when your opponent attacks-" She then thrust Miló so it was poking Jaune in the ribs, "-and attack when you see an opportunity."

"So you're making your own opening for attack by blocking?" one of the students observed.

"Precisely," she said, putting her weapons away. (Jaune did the same.) "When you are in a real fight, your opponent, whether they're human or not, will not take pity on you and give you an opening to attack them, so it is up to you to create you own…" She stopped talking when she noticed one of the students fidgeting uncomfortably. "Naia, is something wrong?"

Naia, a Faunus with small dog ears, was wincing in pain, her canine ears laid flat against her head. "It's this noise," she said, "it's really annoying and I can't get it out of my head!"

"Did someone sneak a dog whistle into class again?" Pyrrha asked sternly; Naia had been the target of more than a few pranks because of her Faunus heritage (despite the School's rules against bullying), and Pyrrha had to send students to Ozpin a couple times when the pranksters were caught in the act. However, this time everyone was just as baffled as she was when no one came forward as the culprit.

"I don't hear anything," Jaune said, straining to listen for the source of the mysterious noise.

Pyrrha sighed, and was about to explain to her boyfriend that is wasn't the kind of noise you could hear normally when her own ears picked something up. It was faint, but it sounded like some kind of whine, the kind of thing certain Faunus complained about hearing because of their sensitive ears.

_Who could possibly be making that noise?_ the spear maiden wondered.

She didn't have to wonder for too long, as the source soon came bursting in the doors, making a beeline for her and summarily latching itself around her waist.

"Nora!" she gasped, looking down at the normally cheerful girl attached to her person, now reduced to a blubbering mess. "What happened?" Nora tried to answer, but all the came out of her mouth were a mass of choking sobs.

"Uh...I'll go get Ren!" Jaune announced, rushing off to go find the young Valkyrie's partner, "You take her back to the room!"

Pyrrha nodded before turning to the rest of the class, "Everyone, class is dismissed for the day. Hurry on to the next period, and remember to practice simultaneous blocking and attacking during your free period; I'll be testing you on it next week." She then managed to stand Nora up enough so she could heard her out of the arena, letting the distraught girl sob into her shoulder.

They walked until Pyrrha found a bench to sit down on. Once procured, she set Nora down and knelt in front of her. "Nora," she asked, "can you tell me what's wrong?"

"W-w-w-why w-was s-she so- *hic!* so m-mean?" the ginger girl sobbed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "I-I don't- I was only…"

"Who was being mean?" Pyrrha asked gently, "You can tell me." Nora tried to compose herself, continuing to wipe snot from her nose.

"It was, *sniff*, Weiss," she sniffed, pulling her legs up to her chin. "She called me dense and said I was stupid and that I wasn't any better than a Grimm and I didn't even do anything! All I said was that Ruby would like my Food Fight idea, she didn't have to be so mean about it!"

Pyrrha gasped, not sure she believed what she'd just heard. She'd heard that Weiss had been in a foul mood since she, Yang and Blake returned from their ill-fated mission, but she never imagined that Weiss would be so thoughtless as to leave Nora in the near infantile state she was in.

Her Scroll buzzed before she could ponder the situation further, it turned out to be a text from Blake.

"_If anyone sees Nora, let me know. Weiss lost control and verbally abused her"_

Pyrrha immediately sent a reply back, "_found her, will take care of it"_. She then pocketed her Scroll and turned back to her distraught teammate. "Let's head back to the room, I'm sure Jaune has already found Ren and they are waiting for us there now."

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Jaune and Ren were indeed waiting in JNPR's dorm room when Pyrrha and Nora arrived, Ren immediately rushing to Nora's side and ushering her to her bed.

"My Scroll's been going off non-stop," he said, taking a seat next to his partner and putting a comforting arm around her shoulder, "Jaune filled me in."

"What on earth happened to make her cry like that?" the young Knight whispered to Pyrrha, "I've barely even seen her _frown_ in the past three years!"

"Weiss apparently lost her temper with her," she explained, equally as hushed.

"There there," Ren said, patting Nora gently on the back, "everything's gonna be alright… Now, tell us what happened." The stoic boy motioned for the other two to sit next to them.

"You said she took offense when you brought up Ruby?" Pyrrha prompted.

"I don't know what happened," she sniffled, "I just said that she'd like my Food Fight idea, and that she'd be back any day now-"

Everyone immediately saw what the root of the problem was.

"Nora…," Ren said hesitantly, "Ruby isn't coming back; she died, people don't come back from that."

"B-b-but she's gotta!" Nora protested, "She _can't_ die! She's too nice to die!" Tears threatened to fall from her eyes again, "...we were gonna hang out and listen to stupid pop music together after she got back from her mission…."

Jaune and Pyrrha's resolve nearly broke from how pitiful Nora looked then.

"I even made cookies…." Nora weakly pointed to a plate of saran wrapped, chocolate chip cookies that had been sitting on her nightstand for the past few days. Again, she used her sleeve to wipe the snot from her nose, threatening to break into tears once more, "I don't want her to be dead."

Frankly, both the blond knight and elegant Spartan were at a loss as to what to say to their distraught friend. For Jaune, the subject of the late Ruby Rose was still a touchy one, bringing about a fresh round of grief whenever he happened to think of it. The same could be said for Pyrrha, though she managed to have more success in dealing with emotions. And although she would never admit it, comforting Jaune and dealing with her own inner turmoil simultaneously often left her more than a little emotionally drained, so she wasn't exactly eager to repeat the process with a third party involved.

Thankfully, Ren motioned to the pair that he had this situation under control, bringing Nora into a tender hug. "Nora, do you remember that time when you found that kitten when we went on that camping trip to southern Mistral?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded, sniffling, "Lord Fluffy the Terrible."

"And remember what happened?"

"Ye- *sniff!* ...yes; that pack of Beowolves attacked the camp, and Lord Fluffy tried to protect me, and…Lord Fluffy!..."

"I know," the stoic boy comforted, rubbing Nora's shoulder. "Now, do you remember what we told you at the funeral we held for him?"

"Um...you said that, um...that Lord Fluffy wouldn't want me to stay sad, and that the best way to honor his memory was to keep being happy, right?"

"Exactly. Now here's the important part; when Weiss yelled at you before, it had nothing to do with what you said to her."

The awkward silence that followed told Ren that his message was less than clear.

"I don't really get it," Nora said, looking confused.

"Yeah, neither do I," Jaune added sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What I mean," Ren amended, "is that Weiss was in a bad emotional place when Nora talked to her; it wouldn't matter who said what to her, she was probably going to snap regardless. Mind you, this is all speculative."

"That makes sense," Pyrrha mused.

"So I'm _not_ delusional?" Nora asked, her eyes sparkling in anticipation.

"No, ...but, this does bring to light a different problem." Pyrrha turned to Nora, looking somber, "Nora, you need to stop ignoring the fact that Ruby died-"

The formerly bubbly berserker suddenly threw her hands over her ears, humming loudly in an attempt to drown out the unpleasant reality.

"Nora, sooner or later you will have to accept the-"

"No I don't!" she protested, cutting the athletic redhead off, "It's really really sad, and I don't like feeling that sad, so if I pretend that it never happened then...then I won't have to feel this sad!" She started sobbing again, curling up into a ball and falling into Ren's lap. "It hurts so much…!"

For the next few minutes the four of them sat together, letting Nora have her much needed cry, Ren continually rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. After a while Pyrrha excused herself and Jaune, saying they had classes they needed to attend.

"...Ren," Nora whispered once they were alone, "is Ruby really gone for good?"

"I'm afraid so," he said, stroking her hair. After a while he got up, holding his hand out, "Come on, I'll go make you some pancakes."

As they walked to the school kitchens, Nora glanced up at her childhood friend, a question pursed on her lips.

"...can you put blueberries in them?"

"Of course, Nora."

Nora smiled; maybe Ruby wasn't coming back, but at least she still had her friends (and pancakes).

She could cope.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_The idea behind this one was to help Nora have some catharsis on her own, since she doesn't really get the chance in the story proper. The ending was such a pain to write, by the way, had trouble with it loooong before, well, you know._

_Tell you what, how about we end on something a little lighter, huh? I think we could all use that._


	10. Deleted Scene 4: Yang

_If you'll recall the end of chapter 2 for a moment, Yang mentioned not being involved with a street gang getting knocked unconscious and left in front of the local constabulary._

_So let's just see how facetious she was actually being, shall we?_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"Damn…" Yang sighed as she wandered aimlessly around Vale. Wailing on the Grimm hadn't been as cathartic as she thought it would be, and she still had a bunch of pent up feelings to work through. Her sister was dead, killed right in front of her. Any normal girl would have been reduced to a blubbering mess at such a horrific sight.

However, Yang Xiao-Long wasn't a normal girl.

"Goddam fucking shit-ass bitch animals...," she muttered, kicking a rock ahead of her. She was furious at the senselessness of it all, but more than that she was livid at the fact that she couldn't do a single damn thing about it. Sure, life had given the shaft before, but Ruby had always been there to weather the bad moments with her. Now though, that would forever be impossible.

She hadn't really paid much attention to where she was heading after she finally finished off the Grimm that killed Ruby. She was still aware enough to know she was in Vale, and one of the rougher parts of town at that, but outside of that she really didn't care. All that mattered to her right now was just to find something that she could take out the rest of her rage on. Preferably in a way that didn't involve innocent bystanders, but she wasn't really in a picky mood at the moment.

Looking up, Yang spotted a flickering neon sign further down the road. It had a violet dragon on it next to the word "dragon", as well as another word that she couldn't make out in the dim lighting. "Well, it's as good a place as any to get sloshed," she decided, heading for the sign.

Before she could make it inside a large, burly man stepped in front of her.

"Private club," he said curtly, jerking his thumb to the side, "get lost."

"Aw, now don't be like that!~" she said, slipping effortlessly into sexy mode. Having been to more than a few clubs in her time, she knew exactly how to bluff her way in. "I'm just looking for a good time, maybe a few drinks." She posed in a way that strongly emphasized her very generous bust, "Don't I meet the dress code?~"

"I said get lost!" the bouncer persisted, "The Black Dragons are in the middle of Sonny's birthday party, and they already have enough hookers to go around."

"Are you _sure_ I can't just pop in for a quick drink?~" she said, sashaying closer to him. She fluttered her eyelashes coyly, "There's gotta be _something_ I can do to convince you to let me in, _right?~"_

"OK, back the hell off, bitch!" he raised his arm back threateningly, "I'm not afraid to hit a girl, so get lost before I turn that pretty little head of yours into-"

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Inside the club, the boys of the Black Dragons were having a grand old time, letting the booze flow freely down theirs and their female companions throats. The whole day had been going well for them, in fact; they'd successfully been able to gather payment from all their "protection contracts", got a "voluntary tribute" from the local liquor merchant, and on top of the usual deviancy and larceny, they crashed some homebrew drug lab that was making unsanctioned drugs, which they'd imbibed in throughout the evening.

Which is why none of them knew what to do when Tiny came flying through the door and crashed into the stripper pole, the door itself following close behind.

"Don't mind me, boys," Yang called as she sauntered past the dumbfounded gang bangers and up to the bar, taking a seat on one of the empty stools. "Oi, barkeep, hit me with the strongest thing in the house!" She reached into her pocket and dropped some Lien on the counter top.

As the bartender set the drink in front of the blond brawler, the Black Dragons started to come back to their senses. A group of them stood up, one of them with "Sonny" emblazoned on their jacket, and made their way over to her.

"Hey," Sonny said, forcefully placing a hand on Yang's shoulder before she could have any of her drink, "the hell is your problem, bitch?"

"Can I help you with something, Officer?" she replied sweetly, not looking behind her.

"Yeah, you could get your bitch ass out of our club!" He forcibly whirled Yang around so she faced him, her usual cheeky smirk full and present. "Why do you think we had Tiny out there turning people away, huh? Because this is a private event, that's why!"

"Look," she said, her cheerful demeanor never wavering, "I just watched my sister die not even three hours ago, and honestly, I just wanna lose myself in a drink for a little while, so me and my 'bitch ass' are going to stay right here until that glass there is empty, M'kay?"

She turned around again and was about to take a sip of her alcohol when Sonny smacked the glass out of her hand, spilling its contents all over the floor.

"There, it's empty. Now get the fuck out." All of Sonny's pals snickered behind him.

For a moment, Yang was completely frozen. Then, she slowly rose from her seat, turned around to face Sonny….

And bitch slapped him so hard he slammed into the same column Tiny had.

This got the rest of the Dragon's attention, and they all chose that moment to surround the blond brawler.

"I guess we're doing things the hard way then," she sighed, cracking her neck. After doing likewise with her fingers, she dropped into a fighting stance, motioning for the punks to "come at her".

Many of the goons rushed her at once, hoping to quickly overwhelm her and get the upper hand. After all, she was just one girl; they'd be done with her and back to their deviancy without even breaking a sweat.

...in theory. For all their prowess as thugs, they rarely ever fought against people who were actually capable of fighting back, much less someone who consistently fought Grimm much larger and in greater numbers than their group consisted of at the moment. Which Yang was and had done earlier that day, and as such wasn't even phased by their rush attack. Instead, she activated her gauntlets and charged into the approaching horde.

The first thug to meet with her discovered how utterly outmatched he was when he suddenly found himself impacting against the neon lit ceiling, destroying some of said neon in the process. The rest of them soon came the to same realization as Yang swung at whoever came within range.

"Come on," she taunted as she smashed two of their heads together, "are any of you guys even _trying_? Seriously, my grandmother gives me more of a challenge!"

This apparently got on one or two of their nerves, and they bum rushed the blond brawler. They didn't get very far, as Yang just clotheslined them.

"EVERYBODY STOP!"

Just like that the fight ground to a complete halt, and all heads turned to the originator of the shout.

Sonny, the man of the hour, was slowly climbing to his feet, using the battered column for support.

"That bitch is _mine_; she's gonna pay for crashing my party."

"Really, there's a party going on here?" Yang made an exaggerated show of looking around the place, "Coulda fooled me."

"Say goodbye to your ass!" Sonny announced, pulling a pair of short knives out of his jacket. He lunged at Yang, yelling bloody murder. Yang just smirked, blocking the amateurish strike with Ember Celica effortlessly. This action was repeated again and again, Yang not even having to move around all that much; she just stood in one spot, lazily blocking Sonny's knives. It kinda made the poor gang banger look more pathetic than he normally was.

"Sooooo...are gonna actually start fighting at any point?" she asked, moving her arm up and down rhythmically, "Cause honestly, I'm not feeling it if you are."

"I'll show you 'feeling it'!" Sonny shouted, flipping his knives around in a reverse grip, "Feel my Semblance!"

"Pfft! Like you even _have_ a-" Before she could finish her sentence, Yang felt something rush past her ear. She then noticed that Sonny wasn't charging at her anymore. _The hell did he go…?_

"Looking for me?" Sonny's voice came from behind her. She whirled to find Sonny standing there with a cocky grin on his face and a lock of her hair in his hand-

...he had a lock of her hair in his hand.

He cut a lock of her hair.

_He. _

_Cut. _

_Her. _

_Hair!_

"I can move faster than _anyone_," he explained as Yang stared, flabbergasted, "so don't bother thinking you have any chance of beating me, not when you can't match my speed! In fact, since I'm a nice guy, I'll make you a deal; you let me have my way with you and let me do whatever kinky-ass things I come up with, and I'll forget the whole incident ever-"

"RAAAAAAGH!" Yang cried, her body erupting in fire and her eyes glowing red. Whatever Sonny was about to would forever remain unheard, as he was completely taken aback by the power he had unwittingly unleashed.

He never even felt the punch she delivered to his gut, having been in the process of fainting before the blow actually hit.

At this point the rest of the Dragons decided that it would be in their best interests to get the hell out of here before they ended up the next victim of the raging demon loose in their club. Had they left when the demon was preoccupied with fighting their leader they might have gotten away unscathed. However, with Sonny now down for the count and Tiny still unconscious, the demon could pick and choose her targets at will, so they were royally screwed.

"_Nobody touches my hair!"_ she roared, knocking down thug after thug, "_And for the record, my sister was a speedster, so I know _exactly _how to deal with them!"_

"This bitch is insane!" one of the more cowardly members of the Black Dragons muttered to himself from behind an upturned table, "What in even the hell is she?"

"'She' is really pissed!" came from behind him. He turned around to find Yang Xiao-Long standing over him, her fist pulled back in preparation for a punch. "Say your prayers," she told him, rocketing her fist forward. The goon threw his arms over his face on reflex, scrunching his eyes shut, waiting for the blow to connect.

Only it never happened. After a short eternity the thug opened his eyes, flinching when he found said fist hovering inches from his nose.

"Lights out!" Yang said, knocking him out with a flick to the forehead.

It didn't take her long to deal with the few remaining Dragons, and soon she had a lovely pile of unconscious thugs stacked in the middle of the room.

"Man, I _totally_ needed that," Yang sighed, flopping down in an empty chair. The whole beat down had been super cathartic, letting her release all the remaining anger that killing the Grimm hadn't allowed her. She felt satisfied.

Still, there was probably going to be hit with a lot of angst and tears in the next few days because of this tragedy, but she felt that she'd be able to deal with it now.

_I should probably get back to Beacon now,_ she realized, before looking back at her handiwork, _but what should I do with these shmucks?_

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

_And the rest, as they say, is history. (Or a newscast. Same difference, really.)_

_So, that's all I got. Hope y'all had fun, and if not, then go check out these other stories that are a LOT funnier than this one was._

The Dairy of Glynda Goodwitch/Magical Girl Glitter Gylnda-chan – _Half-Blind Otaku_

Zodiac – _inkbender_

Faun-Filled Pranks – _xT-Zealot_

Lily Valkyrie: Remnant's Most Adorable Criminal Mastermind_ – __SAmaster01_

A little fun with catnip – _Goth Albino Angel_

Nora's Arc – _Nutshop_

Sun Ragekong – _Enerjack_

Weiss Reacts Volume 1/Volume 2 – _ElfCollaborator_

A Will of Steel – _Kisdota-The Freak Gamer_

_These are all insanely funny and are just what the doctor ordered to, as Nora would say, "turn that frown upside down". Or check out my own stories "Yangilocks and the Three Fauna" and "We must increase our...'stamina'!"; they're much lighter fare than "Stages"._


End file.
